Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister, not just for coming to the House, but for all his work and that of his officials on this matter. At times he must be tearing his hair out because it can be very frustrating. Every time we seem to move one step forward, another challenge arises. Genuinely, his work in this area deserves much praise. I join colleagues in complimenting the Chair of our committee, Senator Chambers, and the team that pulled the report together. We worked in a very collaborative way.

In addition to the recommendations, one of the important things we learned from this process was the importance of engagement. We need to try to facilitate and encourage much more east-west and North-South engagement, not just among us politicians, who certainly found it very useful, but also among civic society and other groups. Like anything else, this is all about trust. Trust is very important to any relationships we have. In an era where there is suspicion and so on, that can best be countered in the long term by having more co-operation and groups interacting. EU summits always provided Irish Ministers with the opportunity to meet their UK counterparts on the margins. That no longer exists. It is important that dynamic is allowed to continue into the future.

I acknowledge the Minister's remarks that there is a very clear recognition of the importance of investment in port infrastructure. If any entity had a good Brexit, it was Rosslare Europort. It is important to continue to invest in the infrastructure there.

Members of the committee must have got bored listening to me talking about data adequacy. I continue to worry about the approach the UK is taking to data privacy and data protection. These are very important EU values. If the European Commission decided to terminate the adequacy judgment or even to suspend it, that would have very serious consequences. The Data Protection Commission reckons the paperwork could cost businesses here up to €1 billion. I hope that issue will continue to remain on the Government's agenda, particularly in light of continued concerns expressed about the functioning, operation and resourcing of the Data Protection Commission.